Milk-derived exosome platform for targeted drug delivery
This technology uses tiny membrane-bound particles found naturally in milk — called exosomes — as delivery vehicles for drugs or other therapeutic payloads. The milk exosomes are engineered to carry an external cargo (such as a drug, peptide, or antibody) and are designed to home in on specific targets: either sites of tissue injury or cancer cells. They do this by exploiting two biological signals — elevated ATP released by damaged or tumor cells, and a receptor called FcRn that is widely expressed on cancer and epithelial cells. Because milk exosomes are naturally produced biological structures, they may be safer and less immunogenic than synthetic nanoparticles and can potentially be produced at scale from bovine or human milk.
What you could build
A drug delivery platform built on milk-derived exosomes loaded with chemotherapy agents, biologics, or wound-healing compounds, licensed or partnered to pharmaceutical companies developing oncology or wound-care therapeutics; the primary buyers would be biotech and pharma companies with existing pipelines seeking improved delivery vectors.
Who in Virginia should care
Virginia-based biotech and contract development/manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) in the Northern Virginia/DC corridor or around Virginia Tech's Carilion research ecosystem would be logical partners or licensees.
Readiness: Lab validated
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Robert G. GOURDIE, Linda Jane JOURDAN, Spencer MARSH
- Filed
- Patent pending — filed January 15, 2025
- Status
- Application
- Publication number
- US20260014085A1
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.